Tatyanna Harrison’s Cause of Death Disputed by Independent Forensic Pathologist: Families, Justice For Girls, and UBCIC Call for Coroner’s Inquest into Deaths of Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup

Press Release

May 5, 2025

Tatyanna Harrison’s Cause of Death Disputed by Independent Forensic Pathologist: Families, Justice For Girls, and UBCIC Call for Coroner’s Inquest into Deaths of Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup

Unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh) Nations (Vancouver) | May 5, 2025 — Today on Red Dress Day, the families of Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup, alongside Justice For Girls and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are calling on Hon. Garry Begg B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General to direct an inquest into2025-05-05 these deaths, following an independent Forensic Pathologist’s review that disputes the findings of the B.C. Coroners Office regarding the cause of Tatyanna Harrison’s death.

This formal call for a Coroner’s Inquest into all three deaths was delivered to Minister Begg this morning, and it is supported by BC First Nations Justice Council, Feminist Alliance for International Action, B.C. Civil Liberties Association, and Battered Women’s Support Services. The organizations believe an inquest is necessary in light of the enduring genocidal crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit+ people, failures by justice authorities, and the inadequate implementation of recommendations from various human rights bodies who have found this to be a grave human rights violation.

The B.C. Coroner initially determined Tatyanna’s death was due to accidental drug overdose but later listed her official cause of death as sepsis after conducting an autopsy in 2022.  Authorities did not deem Tatyanna’s death suspicious, despite her being found deceased and partially naked from the waist down on a dry-docked yacht in Richmond on May 2, 2022, nor did they identify her remains or notify her family until three months later in August 2022.

A new independent forensic analysis and review, conducted by a highly experienced and well respected Forensic Pathologist licensed in Canada, Australia and South Africa, concluded the cause of Tatyanna’s death should be ruled undetermined. His report states: “There appears to be no compelling evidence to suggest that the cause of death would have been sepsis, as has been proposed by the BC Coroners Service autopsy pathologist and the reporting coroner.”

Coroners’ findings about the causes and manner of unnatural and suspicious deaths directly inform the quality and nature of the police investigations into those deaths. In Tatyanna’s original autopsy, a rape kit was not performed despite the suspicious nature in which she was found. One was eventually done following five months of advocacy by Tatyanna’s mother, UBCIC and the Coalition on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit+ People; however, the lab work has never been processed because authorities say there is no evidence of criminality in her death.

Sue Brown, Staff Lawyer at Justice For Girls, says; “We believe there were serious issues with the adequacy of the death investigation surrounding Tatyanna’s case and that the investigations into the deaths and disappearances of all three of these young women lacked the thoroughness and due diligence that we would expect from law enforcement where two young, vulnerable Indigenous women and an Indigenous teen girl were missing and found dead with no explanation about how they got there.”

Officers involved in all three investigations are under investigation by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner for neglect of duty relating to their actions during the investigations of these disappearances.

When Tatyanna was reported missing on May 3, 2022, her file was moved between Vancouver and Surrey RCMP for weeks as the two detachments could not determine where she was last seen. The last known sighting was finally determined to be in Vancouver. Tatyanna’s mother, Natasha, searched for months with minimal support from the Vancouver Police Department, while Tatyanna lay with the B.C. Coroner as a Jane Doe from Richmond. Authorities had initially ruled out that Tatyanna was the Jane Doe on the basis of a photo comparison. Three months after Tatyanna’s disappearance, a DNA match confirmed that the Richmond Jane Doe was Tatyanna.  Police have not provided answers regarding many circumstances of Tatyanna’s death, including how and why she ended up on a dry-docked yacht, who she was with or what the events led up to her death entailed.“We know almost nothing about how Tatyanna died, and the conflicting pathologists’ findings are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the unanswered questions about her disappearance and death,” says Brown.

In Chelsea’s case, authorities have said the investigation remains open but it is not a criminal investigation. Her remains were found in the yard of an abandoned mansion in Shaughnessy a year and a half after she was reported missing. Among the many remaining questions in her case, there is no explanation about how Chelsea arrived at or gained access to the Shaughnessy property, which is surrounded with tall and impenetrable hedges, despite her significant physical mobility challenges. Neither have there been adequate answers about why Chelesa was missing fingers and part of her skull.

Noelle, an Indigenous teen girl, went missing from a foster care group home in Port Coquitlam in May 2021 when she was 13-years-old. Her body was found a year later in the Downtown Eastside apartment of a 46-year-old convicted sex offender who had a history of giving fentanyl to vulnerable women in exchange for sex and had been declared a danger to the public by police and immigration authorities. Police failed to find Noelle’s body during the initial search of the apartment when they found the deceased sex offender. It took another two months before Noelle’s remains were located in a subsequent search prompted by odor complaints from nearby residents.

The Calls for Justice in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls are aimed at ending genocide, tackling root causes of violence, and promoting the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. These include:

• Ensuring that all cases of missing and murdered women and girls are duly investigated and prosecuted (Call for Justice 1.2 iii, which calls on Canada to implement the recommendations from the United Nations’ CEDAW Inquiry) and to implement protections for the rights of Indigenous women and children in compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and
• Call for Justice 1.5, for governments to prevent, investigate, punish and compensate for violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

The families of Tatyanna Harrison, Noelle O’Soup and Chelsea Poorman, Justice For Girls and UBCIC call for an inquest, pursuant to s. 19(1) of the Coroner’s Act, for all three cases. A Coroner’s Inquest is necessary to uphold public confidence and to ensure that these suspicious deaths of two young Indigenous women and an Indigenous girl will not be overlooked, concealed or ignored.

QUOTES

Natasha Harrison, Tatyanna Harrison’s mother
“I’m watching the systemic failures happen in real time. The system is an accomplice to ongoing genocide and femicide of which my daughter was a victim. When the Coroner fails families, we are left with hypotheticals and questions, rather than answers. My daughter is not a hypothetical. Her suspicious death as well as Chelsea’s and Noelle’s should have been treated as homicides until they were proven otherwise.”

Sheila Poorman, Chelsea Poorman’s mother

“We’re dealing with a one hundred percent failure rate for our families and have had no recourse for justice. Our families deserve better. Our daughters and nieces deserve adequate, unbiased and thorough investigations, but all we’ve been given is an absence of evidence, raising even more questions. We all need answers.”

Josie August, Noelle O’Soup’s aunt

“The ball was dropped on every level for Noelle: the Ministry did not issue an amber alert, the VPD did not find her remains on the initial search of a known sex predator’s apartment, and the coroner was not sent when a missing 13-year-old’s body was found in the Downtown Eastside. This is how they keep us traumatized, and never able to get justice. The silence in her case is deafening.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President
“The investigations into the tragic deaths of Tatyanna, Chelsea and Noelle are shocking and shameful displays of systemic racial discrimination which showcase the enduring failures of the Canadian justice and child welfare systems. Indigenous peoples across the country were deeply shaken by the string of heartbreaking disappearances in Vancouver between 2020-2022, which reopened wounds from a not so distant past when Indigenous women were preyed upon by Robert Pickton. Much like then, these cases continue to demonstrate a pattern of egregious police negligence, delayed investigative responses, and jurisdictional mismanagement rooted in anti-Indigenous racism. UBCIC stands firmly with Tatyanna, Chelsea, and Noelle’s families in calling on Minister Begg to direct a coroner’s inquest to signal to our province that Indigenous women and girls matter and are deserving of justice.”

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Backgrounder

Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup are young Indigenous women and an Indigenous teenager, whose deceased bodies were discovered in close succession almost exactly three years ago under highly suspicious circumstances in Metro Vancouver. The three cases draw striking similarities and are connected to the widespread crisis of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit+ people. All three deaths were treated as ‘unsuspicious’ or ‘not criminal’ by police. The police investigations were characterized by delayed responses and are widely criticized for exhibiting neglect, lack of due diligence and thoroughness. The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner (OPCC) is investigating officers for neglect of duty relating to their actions during the in all three of their disappearances and deaths.

• Tatyanna Harrison was a 20-year-old Cree, Métis and Brazilian woman from Treaty 6 (Alberta Plains Cree, St. Paul) and Métis Nations whose family was impacted by the sixties scoop and day school system. She was reported missing on May 3, 2022 when her mother, Natasha Harrison, had not heard from her in several weeks. Tatyanna’s remains had been found in Richmond on May 2, 2022, unbeknownst to Vancouver police or her mother. Three months later, on August 5, 2022, Natasha learned that the Richmond Jane Doe was identified as her daughter. Tatyanna had been found partially unclothed on an abandoned yacht in a dry dock. Despite the circumstances of her disappearance and the condition of her remains, her death was quickly ruled non-suspicious and likely a drug toxicity death. On February 9, 2023, the BC Coroner’s Office released their final report, concluding that she died from “sepsis.”  Her case is considered by police to be “non-criminal” in nature.
• Chelsea Poorman was visiting Vancouver when she went missing at the age of 24. She was a member of the Kawacatoose First Nation in Saskatchewan. She disappeared from a busy downtown Granville Street on September 6, 2020. Her remains were located on April 22, 2022 behind an abandoned mansion in Vancouver’s wealthy Shaughnessy neighbourhood. Police initially determined her death was not suspicious, though the coroner was unable to determine a cause of death due to the state of her remains.
• Noelle O’Soup was a 13-year-old Indigenous girl from Keys First Nation in Saskatchewan. At the time of her disappearance, she was in a foster care group home in Port Coquitlam when she went missing. There was no amber alert, and no coordinated search to find her by child welfare authorities. Her family was not informed she was missing. By many accounts she was seen with people known to exploit women and girls in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside during the year she was missing. Her remains were found in the apartment of a known predator and sex offender (“Jimmy” Pham) one year after she had gone missing. The VPD initially did not find her when they entered Pham’s apartment following desperate pleas by neighbours, who were reporting a foul odour from his apartment. Her family was not informed and learned of her death through the media. Her cause of death has not been determined.

About Justice For Girls

Justice for Girls is a Canadian non-profit founded in 1999 that advocates alongside teenage girls who live in poverty, are racialized, Indigenous or face other barriers that contribute to marginalization and discrimination on the basis of their age, gender, disability, race, class or Indigeneity to promote their equality and human rights. We believe that teenage girls are the experts of their own experiences, we provide support to amplify their voices in policy discussions on issues that impact them or their rights directly. We work to remove barriers to accessing justice for teenage girls and to promote accountability for violations of their rights. Justice for Girls has had Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2009, www.justiceforgirls.org

About the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC)

The UBCIC is a First Nations political advocacy organization founded in 1969 with a mandate of advancing and protecting First Nations title and rights. The UBCIC strengthens First Nations’ assertions of their title, rights, treaty rights and right of self determination as peoples, working collectively among First Nations in B.C. as a cohesive advocacy body. UBCIC has a robust history of advocacy for First Nations women and girls and is committed to ending the harms of systemic gender-based violence and the MMIWG2S+ crisis alongside First Nations women in the pursuit of justice, health, and safety. UBCIC is a member of the B.C.-based Coalition on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit+ people, www.ubcic.bc.ca

RESOURCES
Mental and Emotional Support Services

• First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Helpline. If you’re experiencing emotional distress and want to talk, contact the toll-free number at 1-855-242-3310, or the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hope for Wellness Help Line offers immediate mental health counselling and crisis intervention to all Indigenous peoples across Canada. Call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or use the chat box on their website.
• KUU Crisis Line Society is a First Nations and Indigenous specific crisis line available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, toll-free from anywhere in British Columbia. KUU-US Crisis Line can be reached toll-free at 1-800-588-8717. Alternatively, individuals can call direct into the Youth Line at 250-723-2040 or the Adult Line at 250-723-4050.
• National 24/7 MMIWG2S+ Support Line 1-844-413-6649 An independent, national, toll-free support call line is available to provide support for anyone who requires assistance. This line is available free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Battered Women’s Support Services (BC): BWSS offers immediate, short-term help to survivors of violence in intimate relationships, childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assault. CRISIS LINE 604-687-1867 | Toll Free 1.855.687.1868

Media Inquiries

Allison Murray
Communications Consultant
T 604-442-1846
E allison@MurrayCommunications.org

Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC)

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip
UBCIC President
T 250-490-5314

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